Kotsay was not likely to be resigned by the Braves at the end of the year, as they have a bevy of outfielders ready for the big leagues.  Kotsay feels he can continue to be a staring outfielder but was not likely to get that chance with the Braves.

The Red Sox needed additional power in the outfield after the recent injury of JD Drew.  Kotsay fills their offensive hole somewhat while the Braves appear to have received a great player in return.

Sumoza strikes out a bit – once every three or four at bats, but he has a .915 OPS and 38 RBIs in low-A ball.  He joins a slew of young outfield talent in the Braves system, with Gorkys Hernandez, Jason Heyward, and Jordan Schafer already making their way toward the majors.

I like this trade, even though I liked Kotsay. I’ll be sad to see him gone, but I look forward to our future and hope we see Josh Anderson in the majors here soon.

Did we really just come from behind to win a game after the 8th inning? For the record, that makes the second come from behind win this season after being down after the 8th inning.

Of course, we’re still 15 games back, and sucking more wind than an upside down Hoover. Oh, and Mark Kotsay is rumored to be headed towards Boston, but that’s entirely speculation as nothing has actually been announced – he was just a late scratch from the lineup last night.

How’s everyone holding up out there?  You guys doing ok?  For all the crew here at BravesBlast, join me in hoping for more games like last night.  Actually, we’d take games where we’re in front the whole game, too.

Mark Kotsay – The Incumbant CF

Kotsay’s contract expires at the end of the 2008 season and he may or may not be resigned.  Kotsay has been effective in Atlanta, batting .299 with 37 RBIs, 6 HRs, and a .346 on-base percentage in 83 games.  He’s been on the DL with back issues (he had back surgery in Oakland that knocked him out for most of last season) but for the most part has been healthy.

Gregor Blanco – The Rookie

Gregor Blanco has played the most time of the young Braves’ outfield prospects, batting .258 with 27 RBI, 11 stolen bases, and a .371 on base percentage.  Blanco is speedy – he’s currently ranked second in the NL in bunt hits with 14.  Blanco has been slowed recently by a bone spur in his ankle, which is growing worse as the season progresses.  He’s doing a pretty good job batting leadoff and has impressed with his time in Atlanta.

Josh Anderson – Rising Star

Anderson has played most of the year in Richmond, but is absolutely tearing up the baseball there. He’s batting .316 with 37 RBIs, a .361 on base percentage, and a whopping 40 stolen bases.  He’s cutting down on strikeouts when compared to years past, and and should definitely be considered when the Braves look at their outfield after the season.  It’d be great to see some speed come back to Atlanta, where we have a history of speedy outfielders.

Jordan Schafer – Once The Future King

Schafer was once heralded as a sure lock for the Braves’ starting center field spot in 2009, but a run in with an HGH suspension (he says there’s a side to the story that hasn’t been told) has limited his playing time and knocked him back a step or two.  He’s batting .269  with 46 RBIs and 9 HRs in just 71 games and has an OBP of .371.  I’d be surprised to see him make the jump from AA ball to the big leagues, but it’s not impossible.  He still has a future with the Braves organization, I’m just not sure it involves a role in center field in 2009.

Who do you think the center fielder should be next year?  Kotsay or one of the youngsters?  I’m excited about Josh Anderson and want to see him in the bigs next year for the Braves, be it in Center or Left.  But with potentially Kotsay, Anderson, Blanco, Brandon Jones, and Matt Diaz competing for three outfield slots, it’s going to be competitive – and fun to watch.

Kotsay started with a triple in the second, then a fourth-inning homer, a single in the sixth and then the double in the seventh.  The double that gave him the cycle was also his 1500th career hit.  Kotsay went on to tack on another single to go 5-5 on the night.

In other Braves news, Francisley Bueno has been issued a 3-game suspension for throwing a first-pitch fastball behind the Cubs’ Alfonso Soriano’s head Wednesday night.  Bueno has also been optioned back to Richmond, so the suspension will not take effect until he returns to the majors.  He has since filed an appeal.

Let’s celebrate the little things right now.  Congratulations go out to Mark Kotsay and a big thanks for providing some much needed excitement to the Braves right now.

• Mike Gonzalez - The Braves closer has received interest from the Texas Rangers organization. The Rangers, in desperate need of bullpen help would be willing to trade an outfielder for Gonzalez. Outfielders could include David Murphy, Frank Catalanotto, Brandon Boggs or Marlon Byrd. While the Braves need an outfielder, it would be unwise to sell Gonzalez at this low of a price. He has a top-5 closer ceiling, it would be painful to see that production in another organization. Murphy and a top prospect might get the trade done however. For those who do not know David Murphy yet — he is a hard-nosed player that pounds the gaps hard. He will not be an all-star but has some above-average years in him. The rest of that crew would not be an attractive solution to our problems with outfield power.
• Mark Teixeira – The Braves have apparently started to seriously consider moving Teixeira. CBS Sportsline has a report up stating that the Braves have made a list that includes Boston, Los Angeles (AL), Tampa Bay, and Arizona of potential trading partners. These are four organizations with deep minor league systems that could really turn into a bidding war if two or more organizations get involved in this deal. I don’t see how Tampa Bay is interested in this because they have a long term commitment to Carlos Pena who has power and plays great defense, much like Teixeira. Putting one of the two at DH would be a detriment to those two players. A new rumor that was floating around is Robb Quinlan and Brandon Wood of the Angels to the Braves for Teixeira. That is a terrible offer if that is indeed the truth. Quinlan is a career bench player and Wood’s star has burned a lot dimmer in recent years since hitting 43 home runs in 2005 at High-A Ranco Cucamonga. Also, where does Wood fit on this team? He is a third-baseman/shortstop. There isn’t a place for him this season. Los Angeles would be a lot closer offering Casey Kotchmann and Juan Rivera.
• Tim Hudson – His name has been mentioned once, but it is highly doubtful that the Braves would be interested in moving their ace.
• Mark Kotsay – He has just this year left on his contract but has played well despite some injuries.  I have doubts that they could get much for him – but you never know.
• Will Ohman – This is a name that may be mentioned more frequently over the next few days. While I have not heard of any specific deals in which Ohman might be involved in, he has put together a great season and is a lefty. I can’t imagine anything that might make him more attractive.
• Jeff Francoeur was mentioned by Braves.com today in trade rumors – though this may be shocking to some people, he’s not doing well at all.  The Royals may be interested – their GM was formerly in the Braves organization.

It may be 4:01 on July 31st when the baseball world finally knows what the Braves intentions were for this trade season.  Rumors will continue to flutter around and we may not know what’s going on until it happens.

- Dan & Colin

Chipper ran some sprints today and noticed significant improvement in his right quad.  He told Bobby Cox about an hour ago he was ready to be in the lineup for the game tonight.  The final decision will be made after batting practice, but Chipper, who was expected to go on the DL today, normally knows his body pretty well.  I’d expect to see him doing his part.  Hopefully he’s kept up his hot swing while he’s been unable to run, because I can’t wait to see him in front of Mark Teixeira, who has been absolutely on fire recently.  Oh, and we get Mark Kotsay back from the DL tonight.  And if that’s not good enough, we’ll get Yunel Escobar back in the lineup tomorrow.  We’ll see an improvement in offense with those three.

Morton needs a win.  He’s had three starts and is 1-1 with a 4.24 ERA, but he’s pitched very well in all of those starts – not giving up more than 3 earned runs.  He’s due tonight and if the guys can deliver offensively, we should see another W for the Bravos.

Time to make a run to the top of the division, gentlemen.  Go get ‘em!

- Colin

Hanson saw some trouble in the first inning when he had the bases loaded after a walk, a hit batsman and another walk. Hanson got the next hitter to pop out and saw calm seas after that. Hanson allowed just one base runner after the first inning, that coming on a walk. Hanson struck out the side in the second inning, fifth inning and again in the seventh for nine of his 14 total strikeouts.

Mark Kotsay and prospect Jordan Schafer helped in the effort with their offense. Kotsay had two hits and scored a run, while Shafer’s bases-loaded triple drove in three more.

Obviously, Hanson’s no hitter was the story of the evening. Hanson (4-3, 4.32 ERA) went 3-1 with a 0.90 ERA in seven games in A-ball at Myrtle Beach. He has struggled in just two of his nine starts, but those have been the cause of his inflated ERA.

Hanson is a guy that could be a trading chip for the Braves this year or next year. With the rotation set up the way it is, it looks solid from Hudson at the top to Morton at the bottom.

There’s still about a month left till the trade deadline, so we’ll see how Hanson’s no hitter affects his trade value.

- Akshay

Kotsay, who missed his last four starts, had back surgery in March of last year.  He came to the Braves in a trade for prospect Joey Devine.  Kotsay is not the first Braves outfielder to go on the DL – Matt Diaz is expected to miss about six weeks with a partially torn PCL that will not require surgery.  While Diaz and Kotsay are on the DL, Josh Anderson is expected to share time in center field and left field with Gregor Blanco.

Anderson was acquired from the Astros in a trade last year in November for reliever Oscar Villareal.  He impressed in spring training and was beat out for the fourth outfield spot by Blanco.

The Braves will be without the help of Mark Kotsay tonight and possibly for longer as they ponder placing him on the disabled list with his back problems.  Hopefully the rest of the offense can stay healthy and we see some quality performances out of the pitching staff to try to right the ship against our worst-in-MLB 6-16 road record.  It’s time to get it going on the road, guys.  Go Braves!

This counter is crap for more than one reason, but I actually get aggitated every time I see it. At first I thought it was a great idea to have this counter since we thought we’d sorely miss Mr. Jones in the lineup. I can’t say, though, that I’m sorry to see him gone.  For starters, Mark Kotsay is fielding amazingly.  The counter says three, I say MAYBE one, and more accurately if it was called the “Young-Skinny-Athletic-Andruw Would Have Gotten That” counter.  Andruw Jones can hardly carry his 8-month-pregnant belly up a flight of stairs these days, let alone run down some of the stellar hits that Kotsay has gloved.  During the first few games, my boys kept yelling over “write one up for the Andruw counter” on impossible plays.  Andruw thought he was Superman, and still does, but I’ll guarantee you he wasn’t making those catches either way.  The first think we needed to do was be realistic with Kotsay, not sell him short for being less than super human.

Secondly, Kotsay is a much better addition to the batting lineup. Do YOU miss the current Andruw Jones in the lineup? His batting average is worse than Corky Miller’s! The only time a 0.091 is worth $18 million is when it’s an ERA.  Kotsay is hitting like crazy right now. Should we trade that in and wish that Andruw was still here?

Finally, welcome to Atlanta, Mark Kotsay. I think my boys were a little too sad to see the big-man with all of his silver cars hit the road to LA. The cocky man fits in better in LA with his attitude and lack of Southern Hospitality. Mark Kotsay is playing fabulously, is a veteran, has lots of skill and ability, and is the absolute best fit for our team. I’m glad he was chosen over Josh Anderson for the spot. Kotsay is our man, I hope to see him stay here.

So good riddance, Mr. Jones. I’m glad to have you here, Mark. Thanks for making us proud.

The game got off to a similar start to the one from Monday night.  Kelly Johnson and Yunel Escobar got on base and Chipper Jones drove in a run with a single to get the Braves out to an early 1-0 lead.  After that, however, the bats fell flat once again.  The only sign of life for the Braves’ offense outside of that was a 2-run home run that Mark Kotsay drove a little over 400 feet to right-center.  That brought the score to 4-3 and ended the offensive output for the night.

Clutch hitting is still a weak point of the Braves.  We hit well when we’re not pressured and have decent leads, but when the game’s on the line, we just can’t seem to get the bats going.  Bobby Cox said it best after the game when he said that we have a great team and we’ve been in every game.  We just need the one-run matchups to start falling our way.  0-5 in one-run games after only 8 games in the season isn’t the way you want to get started off.

From the mound, Jurrjens had a solid outing, pitching through 7 innings.  He gave up 4 runs on 9 hits while striking out 3.  His 2 walks for the night were both intentional passes.  Manny Acosta pitched the 8th inning for the Braves and looked a little unsettled allowing a hit and a walk before striking out two to get out of the inning.  Jurrjens earned his first loss on the season, bringing his record to 1-1.

The Braves face off against the Rockies again tonight in the third game of this four-game series.  Chuck James is slated to make his first start of the season for the Braves against former Brave Mark Redman.  Hopefully Redman will give up as many runs against us tonight as he did when pitching for us last season.  We’ll also be looking for the offense to break out of the slump that has only produced 9 hits through the last two games.

Everywhere you read about this guy and his supposed maturity, but I’m not sold on him yet.  Just because you can play ball (apparently with the help of HGH) doesn’t mean you have the composure and maturity you need to be a major league player and the potential face of the franchise.  You can’t convince me he’s ready for the big league level for at least a year or two.

As for his placeholder, Mark Kotsay, the guy has been great so far.  Solid hitter, great arm, and he does his best to cover ground.  Heck, we haven’t even had to add a single point to our “Andruw would have gotten that” counter.

Schafer is going to need to come back from this suspension with some sincere remorse and work hard to make up for this significant shortcoming.  Not only does it cast doubt on his strong spring, but it shows character flaws and immaturity.  I think Schafer has bought into the hype surrounding his rising star career way too much – and has passed way over the line between confident and cocky.  One has to be worried about seeing someone like Schafer go down this path.  The truly good players – character wise – are the Jeff Francoeurs and Brian McCanns.  They keep their mouths shut and play baseball – don’t dig into anything suspect or suspicious, and let their numbers back up the hype surrounding their careers.

Schafer has a long way to go – good thing we have those extra outfielders now, isn’t it?  Josh Anderson next season, anyone?

The Braves got on the board early by scoring in the first inning and continued to do so throughout the game.  Kelly Johnson sealed the victory in the 7th while pinch hitting for Peter Moylan with the bases loaded.  Johnson drove one deep over the right field wall for a grand slam, putting the Braves up 9-3 at the time.  The Mets and Braves both scored 2 in the 8th to bring the final score to 11-5.  Hopefully the Braves saved some offense for today’s game that surely will be a pitcher’s duel.

The strange point in the game came in the Mets’ half of the 5th inning.  The bases were loaded with 1 out for Jose Reyes, who drove a sharp line drive to center.  Mark Kotsay made a diving stab at the ball, but apparently was a trap instead of a catch.  I had to confirm with JB from BravesBlog.net as he was enjoying the game in the dry warmth of his home instead of sitting out in the cold rain with the rest of us.  Kotsay relayed the ball back to the infield into what was originally scored a 8-2-4 double play.  In one of the stranger moments I’ve seen in baseball, the call was actually reversed, the runners were sent back to the bases and the Braves were sent back out in to the field.  In the end, it proved irrelevant.

Today’s matchup is the much awaited meeting of John Smoltz and Johan Santana.  Two aces of their respective staffs, facing off against one another.  This is what baseball is really all about.

Jeff Bennett is a trooper, stepping in for the spot start in the emergency start.  He worked hard each of the last two nights and still jumped in there for the start, pitching four innings and 77 pitches.  He struck out three, walked two, and gave up two earned runs.

But the Braves saw the night turn into one much like they experienced the first two nights.  The bullpen (and a Martin Prado error) let the Pirates back into the game, and the Braves lost their third game this season by one run in extra innings.  Bobby seems to like using everyone out there – these guys are going to be tired if we can’t get some solid starting pitching and get them some rest.

Offensively, Chipper continued his hot start, going 3-5.  Reliever Chris Resop got sent to left field for Adam LaRoche’s at-bat, when Royce Ring came in to deal with him.  Resop then came back to the mound and finished his outing.  At least it was entertaining to watch.

The Braves tried to tie it in the bottom of the 10th.  Mark Kotsay hit a monster drive to dead center that was within six inches of going over the wall.  He ended with a stand-up triple.   But that counts for nothing when you can’t score him, and we didn’t.

The final score was 4-3; mark it down as a 1-3 start with all three losses by one run, two of them in extra innings.  Something’s gotta start going our way.

Next up, the Mets come to town, and Hudson will take on John Maine tomorrow.  Should be a good game – tune in here for coverage.  Look for Hudson, Glavine and Smoltz to make the starts against the Mets.  Hopefully we can get the bats going early and we should have some great games to watch.

What did I love about last night?

The feeling of walking up into Monument Grove at 4:30, hours before the game started and seeing the crowd of Braves fan. Looking at those statues of Aaron, Spahn, and Niekro…it felt like…history.  Looking at the Phil Niekro statue. Knowing that, like his fellow Grove-mate, Warren Spahn, he’s not going to be with us forever.

The smell of the ballpark food.

Batting practice. Where any slob (myself included) can, for a moment, be a big league outfielder.

The Braves showing the ultimate salute to one of their own. Asking Javy Lopez to throw out the first pitch. You gave us your best years, Javy. And, most recently, you gave us everything you had. Yeah, it wasn’t enough, but we love you for the effort.

And catching Javy’s pitch? In a beautiful and timeless role-reversal: One John Smoltz.

Tom Glavine. Not only was he wholeheartedly cheered when announced in the roster, but at his first pitch, the stadium stood and screamed encouragement and approval.

But how about the game itself?

A couple observations:

When your two best hitters (Chipper and Tex) go 2 for 12, everybody else has to contribute. Do we have depth and not just a couple of super-stars? That’s where you see if all the time that Frank Wren spent roster-planning worked. So, despite the whole 2 for 12 from Chipper and Tex, if the team still scores 11 runs, you are doing something right.

And if you were a Braves reliever who *didn’t* get to pitch last night, you really must feel dejected. Partly because the bullpen was flat, partly because Bobby Cox kept trying to inject some offensive pop with designated hitters, the Braves used every card-carrying member of the relief corps.

We were running through relievers the way Elizabeth Taylor used to run through husbands. (Really sorry if I lost you on that little hyperbole.) By the end of the 12^th inning, I was expecting to see Jeff Francoeur on the mound.

Dude, I’m serious. Who made rubber appearances?

After Tommy Glavine took us through a very respectable 5 innings with just two earned runs, we begin our relief journey with Chris Resop. Join me , won’t you?

You don’t want Resop? Ok, here’s Will Ohman.
You don’t want Ohman? Ok, here’s Peter Moylan.
You don’t want Moylan? Ok, here’s Royce Ring.
You don’t want Ring? Ok, here’s Manny Acosta.
You don’t want Manny to give up a third home run? Ok, here’s Jeff Bennett.
You don’t want Bennett? Ok, here’s Soriano.
Tired of him? Ok, here’s Blaine Boyer. (Throwing 97 MPH, I might add)

Yes, it’s still early in the season to make too many judgments.
Yes, the team is still getting its legs underneath it.
Yes, we had three throwing errors.

But, based on one game, we also had two huge nagging questions answered.

1)  Escobar can handle himself. Mi ese Cubano (See? I am so groovy and cosmopolitan that I just called him “My Cuban Brother”-which I will henceforth declare him to be. I’m not Latino, even on my best days, but that’s just how I roll, amigo.) made six plate appearances and got on base five times. That included a triple, two singles, and 2 walks. Is it me, or is Mi ese Cubano showing some hardcore plate discipline?
2)  What’d you say? KotSAY. Dude is a stud. A single, a double and a walk doesn’t begin to tell the story. Given that he was the offensive catalyst for both late inning (game-tied) rallies, the fact that he recorded an assist by throwing out a runner at home, and the fact that he waived off an eager (and semi-inexperienced) Escobar from a crucial fly-ball and potential collision, I am thrilled to see this guy here. Andruw who? (I know, I know, that isn’t fair.)

In closing, do you know what the best part of last night was?  Knowing that, despite scandals, wars, crime, greed, White House turn-over, and Old Yeller dying (hey, tell me you didn’t cry and I’ll call you a cold-hearted hoser), the game of baseball continues to reflect the best, and at times, the worst, of America.

Despite personal and national disappointments, the death of dreams, and human beings constantly letting you down, Opening Day still whispers hope. A hope that your team has a chance. That it’s your cheering that will be the spark plug that the batter needs to put him over the edge and extend that long-fly ball into a home run. That the collective will of tens of thousands of maddened fans can, by their very passion, turns the poor fortunes of a game into an indescribably adrenaline-laced rally-that you are part of.

So, yeah, welcome to 2008, Braves fans.

I’ll be the one with the Braves cap on.

Smitty

Jair Jurrjens got the start, giving up two runs in over three innings of work.  However, one of those runs should be charged to Boyer, who did not look good at all in the fourth after he came in.  Some other quick observations:

• Yunel made some great plays defensively, including a nice leaping catch.  I’m excited to see him play a full season.
• Kotsay made a diving grab in the outfield that scared me a little bit – he seemed to catch his arm a little bit but he came up fine.
• I was impressed by Kotsay on the basepaths.  He stayed alert and stole second when the catcher simply dropped the ball.  Caught everyone off guard.  It resulted in Atlanta’s only run of the day.
• We had a “Andruw would have gotten that” moment tonight – but it was later in the game and I think Gregor Blanco was in center, not Kotsay.  So we won’t pop that counter yet.  At least not until the regular season.
• Chipper still won’t run out infield ground balls.
• Fernando Nunez looked good today.  Never heard of him before today, but he looked good.
• Acosta looks good – he’ll be an important part of our bullpen this season.
• The Kelly Johnson / Yunel Escobar double play duo this season will be fun to watch.  They’re getting in the groove and should be really smooth here soon.

Next up, Hampton starts against the Indians at 1:10 tomorrow.  The Braves will have their 25-man roster done tomorrow at some point too.  They have to have it set before Sunday’s game against the Nationals.

Now we have nothing against Mark Kotsay and we hope he has a great season. But he simply cannot match the range of the amazing Andruw Jones, who is one of the best center fielders to ever play the game. Thus, Jonathan and Charles decided to start a “Andruw Would Have Gotten That” counter. Every time we’re at or watching the game, and Kotsay doesn’t get to a ball that we all know Andruw would have caught, we’re adding one to the counter, in an attempt to quantify how much we miss Andruw in the outfield.

In our game recaps, we’ll mention how many points we add to the counter, and if you think we’ve missed one, chime in and we’ll add it to the list.

Join us this year in watching every game and saying “Andruw would have gotten that.”

The question this year is whether Diaz gets his own starting gig in left or platoons with another player. The lead candidate for the possible platoon, at least prior to the start of Spring Training, was Brandon Jones. He’s left-handed, and he has had success in the minors. This spring though, he’s seemed anxious at the plate, striking out too frequently (7 times in 24 at bats).

Some would argue that even had Brandon Jones not written himself out of the playing situation that Diaz deserves to play a full season by himself. He’s certainly a capable offensive player – and even though Terry Pendleton says he wouldn’t teach anyone to start batting the way Diaz does, something has to be working.

Here’s an interesting statistic.  Since the start of 2006, out of all players in the majors with at least 650 at-bats, the players with the highest batting averages are as follows:

Ichiro – .3365

Diaz – .33282

Jeter – .33280

This suggests that Diaz is among one of the better hitters in the game. Now most of his starts come against left-handers, but he’s not half bad against the right-handers either.  In 2007, he went 51-146 with 6 HRs for a .349 avg against left-handers. Against right-handers, he went 37-110 with 3 HRs for a .336 avg. His OPS (on base plus slugging) was .932 against lefties and a respectable .813 against righties. I think Diaz is ready for a full-time job, and I believe Cox thinks he could handle it. We’ll see how it unfolds, but right now I think there’s a higher probability he finds himself in left permanently.

We recently had a question to the mailbag about whether or not Josh Anderson could outplay Mark Kotsay for the center field job. I don’t think that’s even a possibility at this point - Kotsay may not have the range Andruw had (or Anderson has), but he has a great arm and the Braves will give him his opportunity. I know some of us are concerned that he’s going to hurt his back playing hard, but he’ll get the starting job out of spring training. I think Anderson will be one of the four players coming off the bench heading out of spring training.

I’ve written enough – but those are our outfielders. Diaz, Kotsay, and Francoeur should be our starters, and we’ll go from there. I expect Anderson will be the main backup, with maybe Jones playing another role. But he needs more development time. A little more patience wouldn’t hurt him.

The rest of the afternoon was semi-uneventful.  Royce Ring and Ryan Drese each had a scoreless outing, and Matt DeSalvo gave up an earned run in the 8th.  Brian McCann added an RBI of his own in the bottom of the first.

Jordan Schafer looks good this spring – his .389 average shows his consistency and ability to bat.  On the other hand, Javy Lopez had a good day – hitting a solo home run in his only at-bat.  He’s had some issues – hitting only .214 so far this preseason.  I read earlier today on AJC that he’s showing up around 7 AM to take early batting practice and says he’s thinking too much.  I think we’ll see Javy make some adjustments in the next week or so.

Cox offered some praise for Jurrjens after the game with the following comment:

“He’s very impressive. For his age and his limited amount of experience, he’s a professional pitcher out there.”

Next up, we have Tom Glavine pitching against the Nationals tomorrow night at 7:05 PM.  Moylan plans to pitch an inning as well.

The pitching was great on our side as well – Hudson gave up one run and four hits, but beyond that the staff was almost untouchable.  Will Ohman – the left-handed import from Chicago – pitched a scoreless inning and struck out one.  Buddy Carlyle faced 6 batters and had a perfect two innings with three strikeouts.

In addition, Brandon Jones walked twice and scored two runs – looking good on his part.  I really think he gets the job in left field, though Josh Anderson was 1-2 with a run scored.

Good to see the Braves whip up on the Phillies.  Glad to see that we can hold our own – even if it’s against the second-hand pitching.

Keep up the work, boys.  Francoeur took yesterday off because he played golf with Smoltz, Glavine, and none other than Tiger Woods.  Talk about living the big life.